My Moose is 7? How can that be? And knitting, of course!

 Last Saturday I helped Moose, my favorite big boy grandson, celebrate his 7th birthday. I can't believe he's 7 already! He is growing up so fast.

He was awarded "Celebrity of the Month" in his class at school. He is in first grade but also second grade, so his teacher, Mrs. Malinowski, commended him on his superb juggling skills between subjects. We are all so proud of him!

 Uncle Drew paid a rare visit to Pennsylvania too so he had some serious catching up time with his nephew.

 And some serious playtime with his other nephew, Leo, as Poppop joined in the game.

Dinnertime and celebration time with my favorite little boys. What could be better than that?!

 On Tuesday the Chicks and I got back to business with our knitting. Kathleen's daughter did have the perfect buttons for her cardigan from last week's post. 

 Now Kathleen is working on a sweater vest, a pattern from her archives.

 The back is almost finished. She is using a heathered yarn from Plymouth Encore.

 Kathleen's Chinook scarf from last week is finished too. She blocked it when she finished knitting and it made a world of difference. If you don't believe in blocking you should read this from Stephanie Pearl McPhee.

 

 My Olivia Cowl is ready to go into inventory. I used Cascade 220 yarn because it shows the stitch definition so nicely.

 I'm still working on a linen stitch infinity scarf. I think this is a Malabrigo yarn. It is a very soft single ply yarn and the colors are a great picker-upper.

 I am also working on a stealth project about which I can't say much other than I knitted both mittens at the same time on two sets of needles. Having only one set of size 6 DP's, I had to use 2 size 6 circs to knit the other mitten. By knitting them simultaneously I can assure they are both the exact same length and gauge. This is also a good way to avoid sockitis, or mittenitis in this case. That's when you knit one sock, or mitten, and then you suddenly realize you have to do it all over again and you don't really want to. I tried the Magic Loop method but I hate fiddling with the long cables.

 And here they are, exactly the same! Some day I'll tell you about the time I made three baby 

socks, no two the same size.

 This is the second time I made Foolproof using the last of the baby alpaca yarns I used in the first one I made months ago.

 The directions say it starts without casting on and finishes without binding off! I wasn't sure how that was done but if you want to know you'll have to try one yourself. It was a really fun pattern to knit and one that was good for TV knitting but still interesting enough to hold my attention.

 Carole added another hat to the inventory this week. Look at those beautiful cables!

 Now she is working on a baby sweater...

 in a pretty soft pink.

 Beth wore her newest creation. 

 I had a heck of a time getting a good photo of it though. It's really pretty!

 Now she is working on Brickless to add to our donations.

We should be wrapping up these projects soon and then we're all going to make baby clothes!

Button, button, who's got the button?

We start today's show and tell with some finished items from Kathleen. Her favorite child's sweater pattern is from Cabin Fever. She used extra yarn to make a matching hat. Now all she needs are buttons to complete the ensemble. We looked through my three button boxes but couldn't find what she needs. They were either the right size, wrong color or there weren't enough. Back to the store. Or maybe Kathleen could raid her daughter's button collection....hmmm...

 Kathleen's Chinook Scarf was a quick and easy knit. She enjoyed it so much that...

She has already cast on for a second one!

 Kathleen's lady's vest sweater was another quick knit. If I remember correctly, you knit a flat front and a flat back, and then you sew the pieces together. Very little shaping involved and you have a smart looking vest. If knitted in a spring or summer weight yarn, it would make a cute summer T-shirt.

 While searching through our donated stash of yarn, Beth found a Berroco yarn called "Jaspar". We had quite a few skeins of it. Do you remember her never-ending scarf from a few months ago? Well, there was so much yarn left over that Beth was able to knit this Calorimetry headband/earwarmer.

 It contours as it rounds the back of the head. She also made...

 a nice warm hat and....

 a pair of fingerless mitts. I have had to take an oath that if I find any more Jaspar yarn I am to burn it on site immediately! LOL! While she says it's a lovely yarn, I think maybe Beth is a bit tired of knitting with Jaspar. 

Ya think?

 Remember I told you Carole would have her Olivia Cowl finished this week?

 Here it is all blocked and lovely.

 And one final treat to show you. Beth is knitting a pillow cover from our friend's book,

 Knits of a Feather, by Celeste Young. The pattern is different on the back but I didn't think to get a photo of it. It's going to be gorgeous!

Well, it's back to the knitting needles for me. I need to finish something to post for next week.

Knitting til the "cowls" come home!

Carole's Olivia Cowl is growing quickly. She is almost finished with the knitting and then comes grafting the two ends together to make it an infinity scarf. There are many videos on YouTube to teach kitchener stitch or grafting live ends together. This is just one that shows grafting in garter stitch.

 Dorah regaled us with wonderful stories of her recent vacation to Israel and Prague. The worst thing to happen to her was that early on in the trip she lost her knitting! OH NO! I'd have to return home. LOL! Now that she is back home she has her pick of yarn and needles and so she continues where she left off on a ribbed hat.

 I showed you Carole's Bridger Cowl last week when it was newly finished and just needed to be blocked. Here it is all blocked and looking wonderful.

 I finished the Reversible Stripes Scarf the other day.

It never ceases to amaze me how the stripes go in opposite directions on either side! 

 I finished up a cute little cowl last week called Get to the Point. I used Berroco Quasar yarn, a bulky weight, slow changing colorway. The original pattern shows it much larger so it can be stretched down over the shoulders to be worn like a small capelet. I decided to keep it small for use as a cowl. At first I didn't really like the looks of it but now that it's finished and I see it being worn I like it!

As my late mother used to say whenever we went clothes shopping, "Try it on. Nothing looks good on a hanger!"